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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Cornish Game Hens are a delicious alternative to everyday chicken. When cooked properly they are tender, sweet and juicy and because they are small they cook quickly. I know that it looks like a giant chicken half on the plate but it’s actually a salad plate in the picture. Anyhow, this is a delicious one pan meal that has the perfect balance of spice, sweet and sour and from start to finish takes less than an hour . Also, because it’s made in one aluminum foil lined pan, clean-up is just as quick and easy, a perfect weeknight, or any night meal. This of course could also be made with chicken pieces if Game Hens aren’t your thing.

Preheat oven to 450F. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Add the carrots and whole garlic cloves to the pan. Drizzle with one Tablespoon of oil and toss to coat well. In a small bowl combine the garlic powder, chili powder, onion powder, coriander, salt, cumin & chipotle chili powder and mix well. Sprinkle one Tablespoon of the spice mixture onto the carrots and garlic and toss to coat well. Place the roasting pan into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, stirring once at the 10 minute mark.

Wash the game hen pieces and pat dry. Drizzle a small amount of oil over the game hens and rub it in with your hands to lightly coat all the pieces. Sprinkle the remaining spice mixture over all sides of the game hens. Once the carrots and garlic have cooked for 20 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and add the mushrooms, stir to mix all the vegetables. Place the game hen pieces on top of the vegetables, skin side up and return the pan to the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes. At the 10 and 20 minute marks, drizzle one Tablespoon of the honey mixture over each of the game hen pieces. Once plated drizzle a little more of the honey mixture over each piece.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

This month for the Improv Cooking Challenge our hostess Kristen of Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker challenged the participating bloggers to make any recipe of their choosing using the specified ingredients of cinnamon and sugar! I wanted to bake something sweet to share with some friends, so what better ingredients than cinnamon and sugar? I thought about all my favorite cookie and bar recipes but realized that I tend to make the same cookies over and over again and I wanted to try something different. So what did I do? I checked out Pinterest of course and happened upon these cinnamon roll cookie bars from Blissful Whimsy.

The bars sounded really good but I almost passed on making them because they use a box cake mix. I don’t know what it is about me but I generally have this thing about using boxed mixes of any kind, thinking everything needs to be made from scratch…but something about these bars just allowed me to look past the whole cake mix thing and I’m so happy about that as these cookie bars are just wonderful. There’s no trace of that cake mix flavor, in fact these cookie bars taste just like cinnamon buns. Everyone really loved the crunchy edges and top and the chewy center and the glaze on top was the perfect amount of frosting. Boxed cake mix and all, I hope that you’ll make these the next time you’re craving a sweet cinnamon treat.

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix the cake mix, butter, eggs, brown sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and then spread into a greased 9"x13" baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Bake until the top is crispy and a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a bit before piping on the icing. To make the icing whisk the milk and powdered sugar together until smooth.